Friday, October 06, 2006

Band Of The Week - Bad Company

Yeah! It's going another weekend, time really flies... this weekend I'm going back to my hometown, Penang. During Deepavali and Hari Raya, I can't going back because I have to standby on call duty in KL. So... this weekend is my only chance to go back Penang to gather with my family for Mid Autumn Festival, this time I'm going to wack all Penang famous foods before I come back to KL... wahahaha...

Alright, this weekend I'm going to introduce you my another favourite classic rock band... Bad Company. Are you work in a bad company? Hahaha... this is just a band name. Ok, as usual... just click on 'play' and enjoy one of my all time favourite song by Bad Company, Ready For Love.

Click 'Play' to listen

Bad Company - Ready For Love

Bad Company were a British Hard rock band founded in 1973, consisting of band members from Free (Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs) and King Crimson (Boz Burrell). Managed by Peter Grant, who had also guided Led Zeppelin to massive success, the band would go on to enjoy great success through the 1970s.

Bad Company (1970s)

Bad Company (Present)

History (Source from Wikipedia)

1970s

The 1974 debut album Bad Company was an international hit, with the group considered one of the 1970s' first SuperGroups. Bad Company was made up of four seasoned musicians: two former members of Free, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke; former Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs; and King Crimson's bassist Boz Burrell. The group was managed by Peter Grant who also managed Led Zeppelin at time and would manage Bad Company until 1982. The album peaked at #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart (North America) and included two singles that reached the top 20 charts, "Can't Get Enough" at #9 in 1974 and "Movin' On" at #14 in early 1975. In 1975, Straight Shooter gave the group another #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. The album also spawned two hit singles, "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" at #30 and the slower "Feel Like Makin' Love" at #10.

With Paul Kossoff in better health again in 1975, he was delighted that now ex-Free colleagues, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke asked him to join them on stage for two nights in late 1975 with them playing "All Right Now" the super hit from Free's third album. A British tour was set to begin on 25 April 1976 with Back Street Crawler Paul Kossoff's band headlining with Bad Company in support of the new album Run With the Pack and Back Street Crawler's second album, but again as with his later years in Free, Paul Kossoff drug addictions contributed to a drastic decline in the guitarist's health and on a flight from Los Angeles to New York on March 19th, 1976, Paul Kossoff died from drug-related heart problems at the age of 25.

Run With the Pack was Bad Company's first Platinum certified album. The third consecutive million-selling record, reaching # 5 on the Billboard chart and featured the hit "Young Blood" that peaked at # 29 on the Pop charts. In the 1970's Bad Company never released an official live album, even though they recorded some of the concerts, and are famous for their live shows packing largest stadiums for almost a decade. Bootlegs were the only way to find live songs from the shows, sound quality was for the most part poor. The most famous are, Boblingen Live: (1974), Live in Japan: (1975), Shooting Star Live at the L.A. Forum: (1975). Not until the release of Live in Albuquerque 1976 in 2006 thirty years after it was recorded did the band release an official live album of 1970's recordings. The recordings were made by Mick Ralphs, who regularly taped the group's shows, utilizing them as a tool to finely tune their set and performances. Not only is the sound quality excellent but almost all the hit songs from the band's first three albums appear on the live CD.

1977's Burnin' Sky fared the poorest of the first four albums and peaked at a disappointing # 12, and was the worst selling Bad Company album to date. The album did have one hit the albums title song Burnin' Sky that reached # 18 on the Pop charts. 1979's Desolation Angels fared better than its predecessor and gave the band their first Top 5 Platinum selling album since 1976's album Run With the Pack. Desolation Angels embellished the group's sound with synthesizers and strings. the album reaching # 3 on the Billboard charts and again had two hit singles "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" at # 12 and, "Gone Gone Gone" at # 44.

1980s

A three-year hiatus from the studio ended with the release of Rough Diamonds in 1982. This would be the sixth and final LP in the group's original incarnation until four new songs were recorded in 1998. The album was the worst selling Bad Company album of those that had Paul Rodgers as the front man. The album peaked at # 29; it yielded one hit, "Electricland", that reached #10 on the newly created Mainstream Rock Charts.

By the end of the 1970's the band were increasingly disenchanted with playing large stadiums. In addition, Peter Grant lost interest in the group, and in management generally, after Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died in 1980. In the words of Simon Kirke, "Peter was definitely the glue which held us all together and in his absence we came apart." (Reportedly, Paul Rodgers - who has a black belt in martial arts - was involved in a rather one-sided physical altercation with Boz Burrell and Mick Ralphs.) After the release of Rough Diamonds they disbanded. Mick Ralphs said, "Paul wanted a break and truthfully we all needed to stop. Bad Company had become bigger than us all and to continue would have destroyed someone or something. From a business standpoint, it was the wrong thing to do, but Paul's instinct was absolutely right."

Bad Company reconstituted in 1986 with original members Simon Kirke and Mick Ralphs, replacing Boz Burrell with Steve Price and replacing Paul Rodgers with ex-Ted Nugent vocalist Brian Howe. From 1986 to 1994, this version of the band released four albums: Fame and Fortune in 1986, Dangerous Age in 1988, the platinum selling Holy Water in 1990, and Here Comes Trouble in 1992.

1990s

With Brian as lead vocalist and writer, the band toured and sold 19 million additional albums/CD's in the late 80s and 90s highlighted by such radio and video hits as "Holy Water", "If You Needed Somebody", "No Smoke Without A Fire", "How About That", and "Here Comes Trouble" the title track from their 1992 album. A few of the group's previous hits would be recorded on a live album, What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company released in 1993. The music over this time live was always consistently well played, and tours were well-attended with drummer Simon Kirke and guitarist Mick Ralphs being the only original members. (Mick Ralphs would sit out for most of the Holy Water tour in 1990, although he does perform on the album). Paul Rodgers at this time would be involved in many projects. Cut Loose a solo LP would be released in 1983, and A Tribute album to Muddy Waters in 1992. He would also partake in two band-projects: The Firm, with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame and, The Law with Ex-The Who drummer Kenny Jones.

The 1995 line-up of Bad Company would feature original members Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke plus Dave Colwell on second guitar, Rick Wills on bass guitar, and Robert Hart as lead vocals. With this line-up Bad Company released the album Company of Strangers in 1995 and Stories Told & Untold in 1996.

Bad Company finally reunited with all four original members Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs,Boz Burrell,Simon Kirke in the studio to record four new tracks in 1998. The reunion was short but it produced Bad Company's first number one hit in 20 years with "Hey Hey". The second new song "Hammer of Love" peaked at # 2 and the surprise hit of the re-released song "Deal With The Preacher" that first appeared on the album Straight Shooter in 1975. The new tracks appeared on a compilation of previously released material called The Original Bad Company Anthology released in 1999. Bad Company toured with Paul Rodgers for 30-date in the U.S that drew sellout crowds in support of the The Original Bad Company Anthology release.

2000s

Paul Rodgers, "The Voice" (as the media called him since his days in Free), again rejoined his life long friend Simon Kirke in 2001, for Bad Company's Merchants of Cool tour that kicked off in the U.S and then over to the U.K.. The sellout tour produced the first DVD / CD also called "Merchants of Cool" that features the song "Joe Fabulous" that hit # 1 on Classic Rock Radio and top 20 on Mainstream Rock Radio in the U.S. all in its debut week in 2002. The Merchants of Cool tour was with Simon Kirke and Paul Rodgers being the only original members left by this time as Boz Burrell and Mick Ralphs (who has always had a fear of flying) were retired from touring. Dave Colwell previously second guitarist in the post-Paul Rodgers era of Bad Company, took lead guitar, Jaz Lochrie was on bass. Guest performers at the shows included former Guns N' Roses axeman Slash and Neal Schon of Journey fame.